The Council was
set up two years ago to act as a sounding board and point of dialogue between
Westminster and the industry.

Joanne Stuart,
one of our most highly experienced and well-regarded business leaders’, says
she will use the post to represent local economic needs to influence national
tourism policy.

”Our priority as
the NI Tourism Alliance is to ensure that UK policy makers understand the
complexities of the tourism economy in Northern Ireland, particularly in regard
to regional connectivity, Air Passenger Duty and the impact of the UK
Immigration Policy which have just been published.’

The UK Tourism
Industry Council worked with the UK government to develop the Tourism Sector
Deal framework, a government led initiative launched last June which is set to
be a game-changer for tourism making it one of the UK’s major industries for
future economic planning.

Commenting on
this, Joanne said

"Being on the Council provides the ideal opportunity to see how
this framework can be utilised to develop a Tourism Sector Deal for Northern
Ireland. Of particular interest are the development of Tourism Zones to support
the growth of tourism in rural and coastal communities, being recognised as
accessible destination and having a data hub to provide better information on
visitor trends.

“Completing the
sphere of influence for our local tourism industry, I am also a member of the
Brexit Task Force and Central Marketing Group which are operated by Tourism
Ireland, ensuring we have a total approach to global marketing.”

Dr Stuart will be
Northern Ireland’s sole voice of industry on the board which is made up of
leading figureheads drawn from across the tourism industry throughout the UK.

She adds: “This
appointment puts us front and centre as a UK tourism economic voice and we will
influence UK tourism policy and its impact on Northern Ireland.”